「哀」「弔」作為文學類型之美感特質

The Aesthetical Characteristics of Lament and Condolence as Literary Genres

本文探討「哀」、「弔」兩種文類的一般寫作策略與相應之美感特質。「哀」類作品主要展現撰文者對早逝生命的「哀憐」情緒與種種不忍不捨。幾經演變，致哀對象也從幼弱、婦女拓展至未及飛揚卻先殞落之英年；哀傷情緒似乎不「止乎禮義」，而是「發乎情」後並進一步凸顯撰寫者對美好生命的眷眷深情與無可抵拒命運之殘酷的體味。「弔」類作品則可視為「登臨懷古」的另一種寫作形式，由於逝世者的亡故均帶有某種悲劇意味，故「弔」除了抒發哀慟以外，更側重在思索其人死生去就之生命抉擇，亦間接反映出撰寫者的自我認同以及倫理困境。「哀」與「弔」的抒情調性依附在對亡者生命歷程之著墨，故文中的時間維度可漫長延展，從「敘事」、「抒情」角度觀之，即使「哀」抒情意味較強，「弔」敘事成分偏多，但二者仍與習見的抒情詩講求「抒情自我」、「抒情片刻」不相同，若當代抒情傳統論述欲統括此二者，或須仔細商榷。

This paper elucidates the writing strategies and corresponding aesthetic characteristics found in the two literary genres of ai 哀 (lament) and diao 弔(condolence). Works within the literary genre of ai mainly present the author’s compassion for people who came to an untimely end. In the evolution of the genre, the individuals being mourned expanded from children and women to people who died prematurely before they were given a chance to bring their talents into full play. The mourning of the deceased was not constrained by propriety and justice, but rather stemmed from the emotions, and the author often stressed his/her nostalgia for the joys of life and his/her understanding of the inevitable cruelty of fate. The literary genre of diao can be viewed as another type of writing about nostalgia for the past. Death is tragic; thus, in addition to expressing profound grief, diao also contemplate decisions about life and death, and thereby indirectly reflect the writer’s own identity and ethical dilemmas. The lyrical property of both ai and diao depends upon the description of the life of the deceased; therefore, the temporal dimension can be broadened. From the perspective of “narrative” and “lyrics”, even though ai lays particular stress on “lyrics” while diao pays more attention to “narrative”, these two genres are different from more common forms of lyrical poetry with regards to the elaboration of “lyrical self” and “lyrical moment”. Therefore, contemporary theories of lyrical tradition that desire to include both genres need to be considered with the utmost care.